Afternoon all

Im heading to Australia in April for a year, possibly 2 and im looking to invest in a camera for the trip to capture some good shots out there.

My dad currently has a Canon EOS55D with the 18-135 lense and i love taking photo's with that, love the quality of the photo's that come out from it when viewing on the computer, and am looking for a more compact camera that is able to deliver as close to this as possible. Now i no that it isnt possible to get this high quality photos from a smaller camera, but im basically looking for the best i can get for around £200/£250

If i need to stretch a little more to get a really good one then i will.

I have been using a camera we have in the house, a Canon Powershot A480

Any suggestions on a type of camera to buy and any good tips would be much appreciated.

ps while im here i may as well put up a few photo's of the old car as it was taken with the 550D

I have been using a Fujifilm HS10 bridge camera for the last year and its great. Your going to struggle to get a decent DSLR for that sort of money but the Fuji is a very good happy medium between the compacts and DSLR's. Picture quality is brilliant and colours are great. The updated version is the hs20 which is even better or so i've been told. HTH.

Howard

I just picked up an EOS 40D, 2 cracking lenses and a battery grip from MPB and am delighted with the lot. They're used Canon and Nikon sepcialists and are good to deal with, although I had to press really hard to get some money off, have a look:

http://www.mpbphotographic.co.uk/

if you're concerned about weight and size then one of the new compact systems such as the new Nikon 1 would be the obvious choice. Interchangeable lenses, more control and qulaity than a compact but smaller than an SLR. Not sure what the various other makers have (I'm a nikon owner) but they will all do a similar job. I don't think canon have one out though.

Domhnall

As above, nikon J1 would be my choice, but way out of budget.

If you would be willing to get second hand, you will have much more options.

You budget is too low for a current model camera. Save your money and take a phone camera in the short term and when you have enough money buy something like a Canon S100.

Your budget is definitely your enemy here, but it doesn't mean you can't get a decent camera.

Firstly I'd right off a DSLR, you haven't the budget. And older second hand bodies under this price tag won't suffice.

If you want compact good quality, Look at micro four thirds cameras. Panasonic Olympus and now Nikon all support this format. But latest models will be right out of yor price range.

So with this in mind I'd recommend looking for a Panasonic GH-1. Great little m4/3 camera, inter-changeable lens, stunning video, and was updated with the GH-2 last year so you should be able to get a secondhand one for a decent price.

Micro four thirds, and that is what I was trying to say! Cheers

Sent from my motorola xoom using tapatalk

Look at some of the half decent compacts. I have a Canon ixus 50 (good few years old now) and it's picture quality is lovely. I also have 2 Nikon DSLRs for when i want to 'do it properly'. You say the SLR is actually your dad's? How much have you used it? Do you even use the manual functions/know how they work? If not, and you're just going to shoot on auto then I'd just get a little compact. Don't bother using a camera phone as the picture quality is shocking compared to a proper purpose built compact camera.

The new mirrorless SLR's should be as good as a full SLR with mirror, but as mentioned, way above your budget. Other than that a bridge camera, but again I think these are more than £200?....

I suspect a canon g12 is out of budget which is a shame as they take very nice pictures. I'm happy with my Panasonic tz8 compact as well for when I don't want to take the slr - could be worth a look.

Definitely dont use a camera phone. The iPhone 4s is about the best, and that's noticeably worse than a £150 compact in all but the best light.

Edited 5 February, 201214 yr by Dr Zoidberg

Thanks for all the replies, i have looked into some of the suggested camera. I think some people misunderstood what i was saying about my dads DSLR. I dont want a DSLR as i am traveling and want something smaller to keep weight to a minimum, but wanted the best possible smaller camera to give as close to that quality as i possibly can for the money i have. I can spend more than £200 but the more i spend on the camera, the less i take to Oz thats all. I do like the small cameras that have the interchangeable lenses but im pretty sure these will be a bit pricey for me, although i dont mind if im getting a second hand camera as this will probably be a better option as the likelihood of it staying in perfect condition are slim i feel lol

Thanks for the help, and any more suggestions coming in are more than welcome Thanks again, Elliott

You budget is too low for a current model camera. Save your money and take a phone camera in the short term and when you have enough money buy something like a Canon S100.

Definitely not doing this lol, as i said i have a canon powershot and if i dont buy one il just take that. Plus the quality of a camera phone is appalling

Plus the quality of a camera phone is appalling

Depends how old your phone is. The latest batch (less than a year or so old) of Apples and Androids have absolutely excellent optics and image processing.

Sorry but you simply cannot compare a phone camera with an slr or a micro four thirds camera. They are light years apart

Sent from my motorola xoom using tapatalk

To quote that camera phones are a load of rubbish, is a load of a rubbish.

They're absolutely brilliant for some things, poor for others.

Its ridiculous to compare to dedicated cameras, Completely different tools.

As Chase Jarvis says "the best camera is the one you have on you ".

I use a G12 as my daughter has 'nicked' my EOS 20D.

I also use an iPhone 4

The iPhone is okay for daytime photos.

The G12 is brilliant at flash and night time shots. The iPhone is useless at these. The G12 has a manual mode which is brilliant.

Probably any G series camera would be good. G11 & G10 are also very good.

As mentioned above the best camera is the one you are holding, that is generally a phone.....

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Sorry but you simply cannot compare a phone camera with an slr or a micro four thirds camera. They are light years apart

And I wasn't. I was simply saying that if the OP has a decent camera in his phone then for holiday happy snaps it will be more than adequate in most circumstances taking into account the limited budget.

What I know but you may not is that with the exchange rate flucutations and economic changes over recent years Australia is now a very expensive place for UK residents to visit. The days of the cheap 3 month summer back packing holiday in Australia for UK students are well and truly over. If the OP is on a restricted budget that limits him to only a couple of hundred pounds for a bottom end camera with a plastic lens, so so flash, poor response and very limited low light performance then saving that money till he gets here and sees the lay of the land may be a good thing to do. When he gets here there are plenty of places to buy cameras at all sorts of prices for inexpensive through to Leica money and if he is going to be here a year or two then getting a camera a month or even more after he arrives won't make diddly squat difference to having purchased one in the UK anyway..

Edited 6 February, 201214 yr by K1W1

only just got back to this thread so i thought id update it will todays purchase

Today i bought a Canon SX220 HS

Very happy with it so far

I did original look at bridge camera's and small DSLRs but then looked into higher performance compact camera's

My list went down to:

Sony DSCHX9VB

Samsung WB750

Sony SX220HS

My reason for choosing the canon was down to help within the shop (Jessops) where a very helpful guy gave me a run through these three cameras. He said that they were all on the same sort of level as each other with very little differences. Talking through the Canon (which was last in my list of what i wanted) in greater detail, it turned out this guy owned one and couldnt rate it highly enough. He had some photos to show what he had taken with it, and spoke of the different settings and options available within the camera which were quite appealing to myself (fishbowl shots etc)

This also offered full HD video as the others did, and a good level of Zoom, combined with the usual quality of Canon just persuaded me to go down that route

Id like to know your guy's thoughts if any on it so let me know

Cheers, Elliott